Andrea Jenkyns MP: Stop the boats and protect our shores

Andrea Jenkyns MP writes: Since becoming an MP in 2015, correspondence about illegal immigration has been a constant thread in my inbox.

The British people, generous though they are, are tired of people entering our country illegally, taking advantage of our hospitality, and abusing our system to their own benefit.

Allow me to be clear, this is not a conversation about those fleeing persecution, for the UK has a proud history in welcoming persecuted peoples, from Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Hong Kong.

Each fleeing violent regimes, each targeted for their belief in freedom, democracy, and the rule of law.

It is in the character of the British people – and ingrained in our national identity – to be generous, to answer the call of freedom, and to help those in need – but the British people do not like to be taken for fools, nor do they appreciate their generosity and kindness being abused.

Instead, this conversation revolves around the thousands of economic migrants who have come, uninvited, to our shores, via small boats.

It revolves around the rising tide of economic migrants who have come, in a never-ending armada, from Calais or Cërrik to the shores of Dover, Deal, or Dungeness.

It is these same economic migrants who cost the UK taxpayer some £6.8 million per day; with many having no legitimate claim to asylum and no right to remain.

It was for this reason that the UK put forth the Rwanda Plan, which sought to remove those with no right to be here to a safe third country.

Having been used both by the EU and the UN, this plan was compliant with international law and would have been an effective deterrent to those who wish to profiteer from a global and generous, post-Brexit Britain.

Instead of defending our borders and protecting our people, the Labour Party has voted against measures to return violent offenders to their nation of origin, have frustrated plans to take a tough stance on those who come to our shores uninvited, and have offered no practical solution to this invasion.

On the coat tails of Labour hang hordes of anti-British lefty-lawyers who have sought to put international interests ahead of our own – as they did with Brexit – in the hopes of advancing their agenda – one that is not shared by the majority.

Now the good news story is that this government, working in the face of untold opposition, have delivered a plan to resolve this problem, one that will deport foreign rapists and criminals to their nation of origin, and which will protect the British people – and the British economy – from those who seek to misuse and abuse our systems.

This plan will end the business of human traffickers who peddle misery for millions and will do just what the British people have asked for – to stop the boats and protect our shores.